Sports Bio

I was in Row U at Game Six. Second to last from the tippy top of Shea, more or less behind Buckner. I was at Opening Day that year, too. Carter won it with a home rune in the tenth.

I've seen my share of great Bills games, too. I grew up a Jets fan, but when I moved to the Queen City of the Lakes, I found a Better Way. Don't talk to me about losing the Super Bowl: a real Bills fan thinks about getting there, and what a run that was. Winning one would have been nice, though.

My hockey loyalties are divided. In hoops, I am a Knicks man. Big time college sports impress me as a fraud on the public, and an abuse of the athletes.

Personally, I am a runner, and I could watch track and field all weekend. Why does the Olympics bother with anything else?

Recent Links

Let's talk about the Women's World Cup.: I watched the US-Nigeria match last night, and I went to Canada-Germany and Japan Argentina last week in Columbus. I haven't seen any matches in the other groups, but this US team looks to me to be a notch or two above the rest of the field. Can they be beat? They are playing out of their minds right now. Are they the greatest team the US has ever fielded in international sports? I think they might be.

Clemens wants a Yankee cap when he goes to Cooperstown.: (NYTimes link) I can see the argument, but in my mind's eye, he'll always be wearing a Boston uniform. The player's preference is not controling, which surprised me: Gary Carter goes in this summer as an Expo, even though he asked to be recognized as a Met. Is Clemens a Yankee? Should Carter be a Met? Who else in in the Hall wearing a cap that seems wrong?

Derby Day!: Even occasional punters follow the "Fastest Two Minutes in Sports". I love the ponys, but it's become an old guy sport-- old guys with hats, and cheap cigars, for the most part. They say there is no real favorite in this year's race, but the favorite never wins, anyway, and is just a horse to bet against. Who do Sportsfilter folks like? And where exactly does one buy White Owls these days?

Recent Comments

Former MLB player David Segui admits to using hGH!

It's funny, but all of the players involved in this doping scandal who have been caught dead to rights up to this point have been white guys. White guys, and fairly marginal players (except for Palmero). Viewed that way, maybe Bonds does have a point about the role that race is playing in his ongoing scrutiny.

Top 10 Baseball Records

My problem with the article is that it is all over the place with what constitutes a record. Bonds passed 714, but 714 ain't the record-- 755 is. 714 stopped being magical a long time ago. Odd that Bud Selig, of all people, would get something like this right, but he did, and he should get credit for it.

Are You Ready For Some Jeb-Ball?

This reminds me of the joke about Reagan: When he announced his candidacy for governor of California somebody wisecracked, “Reagan for governor? No, Jimmy Stewart for governor. Reagan for best friend.” This is this Bush family equivalent, I'd say. W would have been harmless enough as Commissioner of baseball-- and I'm sure George and Barbara have been thinking of Jeb in the Oval Office since he was in high school.

Gatlin Denied World Record

It would be interesting to see a table that includes the records that have been stricken because the athletes were found to have been using performance enhancing drugs. It seems as though "clean" runners eventually get there, but a timeline would be a useful way to analyze the question. Gatlin's securing the record looks like a lock-- the real question is how long he'll hold it.

Doug Flutie Retires

Doug Flutie saved football in Buffalo. He gave the Bills an exciting product at a time when they needed it desperately. I would dispute that he was merely a backup. His style of play was so unusual that his line needed to be used to what he was doing. It often looked like he was in trouble and improvising, but in fact he practiced that stuff. If you got to the game early you could see him doing it as he warmed up-- running, then jumping and passing while he was still in the air-- all kinds of stunts like that. The Bills coaching staff was sure that Rob Johnson was the long-term answer, and forced Flutie out, a classic example of "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" thinking, and what we got was Homerun Throwback, and a long arid stretch that we are not through yet. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that Flutie was the last legitimate sports star we've had in Buffalo. You might argue Dominik Hasek, and maybe so, but your grandma didn't go out and buy a box of cereal with the Dominator's picture on it. Everyone in town bought at least one box of Flutie Flakes. A class act, and a terrific athlete.

Japan wins World Baseball Classic

For me the most interesting thing was that the style of play-- for both Japan and Cuba-- was so much fun to watch. And why wouldn't that be true, really? The best athletes may be in the pros, but wouldn't you rather watch Olympic basketball or hockey instead of NBA or NHL? I would. The drop-off in talent between MLB and AAA is quite apparent-- you can always spot the AAA player who is on the way up, I find, but the smallball style of play made these games exciting to watch.

"Doc" Gooden back in jail,

If you told me in 1986 that Gooden and Straw wouldn't end up in the HOF, I'd have thought you were crazy. For that matter, Jose Canseco looked like a lock, too. I'd have guessed Eric Davis too. I love sports because they help to show us what people with potential can accomplish-- but stories like Strawberry and Doc show us how easy it is to fail. Davis shows us how frail we all are. And Canseco? Hey, sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.

Patriots Squash Colts, 20-3

Vikings Sack Packers, 31-17

Favre has been washed up for a couple of years now, but he is so popular with the sporting press that nobody says it. The Vikings got a lot of flack about backing into the playoffs, but GB was not notably better during the regular season, so I'd have to say that this was not the upset it may have seemed. We won't know how good the Vikes really are unless they get to the Super Bowl, I'd say-- their toughest game is going to be against a TO-less Eagles team, and I'd say that any of the four remaining AFC teams are better than any of the NFC contenders. Oh, and the Packer's fans mooning the visiting team? I didn't know that, but it is the sort of thing that the bobbleheads on tv almost certainly know. Why didn't they mention it durring all the hubbub?

What should be the top sports story of 2004?

BALCO is part of it, sports doping in general is all of it. I find it odd that this has somehow become a big story because of baseball-- the use of performancing enhancing drugs pervades all sports, pro and amateur, at every level. The story that is being missed is the scale: this is big business, and nobody seems to realize it, or be prepared to admit it. How many major sporting events were not touched by the question of doping this year? Golf and tennis are all that I can think of, and hockey, because there is no hockey.

Tony La Losa?

Someone once said that baseball is the only profession where a guy could be considered an intellectual because he has a law degree from Florida State. La Russa made some moves in this series that didn't work out, but if they had, he'd have looked pretty astute. Fact is, his hitters didn't hit, and his pitchers got hit-- and in the end there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

The 2004 World Cup of Hockey

It seems to me that population base is the most significant factor in medal count, although the Aussies pretty consistantly beat expectations in that department. It seems to me that an enlighted immigration policy is often helpful, in track and field, anyway, so Canada should do a little better in summer stuff. I think worrying about it is silly, though. Worry about who has the most stylin' uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies if you have to worry about something-- Canada has had a historic over-reliance on cowboy hats, and something should be done about that.

Isn't there anyone better than this guy?

The sad reality is that when baseball accidently finds that it has a good commissioner, it fires him. It shouldn't be hard to not screw up baseball, but really, with the exception of Bart Giamatti and Fay Vincent (and arguably Ueberroth) there hasn't been one that has been worth a damn. The worst part about Selig is thinking about what he might do. I held my breath all Spring thinking that he might reinstate Pete Rose, but Charley Hustle managed to sucessfully self destruct.